Article handling machines



Set, 18. 1956 E. E. MESSMER EI'AL 2,

ARTICLE HANDLING MACHINES Filed Dec. 30, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 21 Zhmcntors EDWIN E.MESSMER JOHN D SYLVESTER By JOHN D. KEENANJR.

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Cittorneg MM, 18, 1956 E. E. MESSMER ETAL ARTICLE HANDLING MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 30, 1952 EDWIN E. MESSMER JOHN D. SYLVESTER JOHN D. KEENAN, JR. ,9

% Gttomeg United States Patent ARTICLE HANDLING MACHINES Edwin E. Messmer, Roslyn Heights, and John D. Sylvester, Garden City, N. Y., and John D. Keenan, Jr., Verona, N. J., assignors to Amsco Packaging Machinery, Inc., Long Island City, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 30, 1952, Serial No. 328,774 Claims. (Cl. 271-32) This invention relates to an article handling machine. By way of example the invention will be described herein with respect to a label applying machine. However, it is to be understood that this specific form of the invention only is to be considered as illustrative and the invention is not to be deemed as limited thereby except to the extent to which features of such embodiment are pointed out below and are incorporated in the appended claims.

It is an object of the invention to provide a machine for handling stacked, thin, flexible articles in an expeditious, rapid and efficient manner.

It is another object of the invention to provide a machine of the character described which comprises relatively few and simple parts and is inexpensive to make and use.

conventionally, articles of the character described, that is to say, stacked, thin, flexible articles are handled by suction fingers, these being tubes having suction openings which are small in relation to the size of the article. The tubes are moved toward the stack of articles, usually to the top, and remove one article therefrom. The fingers transfer this removed article to another station, depending upon the particular use of the machine. Inasmuch as the openings in the tubes are comparatively small the vacuum which must be maintained in the tubes is quite substantial. Hence when it is desired to deposit the article at some other station, it is necessary to cut out the vacuum either by means of a valve or by disconnecting the source of power from the vacuum-producin g means. This clearly involves complicated machinery which not only is expensive but is subject to breakdown.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a machine of the character described which is particularly simple in its operation and which is of such construction that it is not necessary to disconnect the vacuum when it is desired to deposit the thin, flexible article being transferred.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a machine incorporating an article handling means having the foregoing advantages.

It is another object of this invention to provide an article handling means that permits comparatively inexpensive suction-producing devices to be employed, such for example as the intake of a low pressure blower.

It is still another object of this invention to provide handling means for thin, flexible sheets, layers or plies regardless of whether they are stacked, such handling means in general being characterized as above described, i. e. by the presence of slight suction and the absence of vacuum cut-ofis.

In this latter connection it is a more specific object of the invention to provide an article handling means which is capable of general application in the handling of thin, flexible articles as for example removing labels or bags from the tops or bottoms of stacks, opening bags by handling the opposite sides thereof, or handling thin filled flat bags for any suitable purpose.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in part will be pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the device hereinafter described and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of the invention,

Fig. l is a side view of a label applying machine constructed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a front view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through the machine, the same being taken substantially along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a front-to-back sectional view through the machine, the same being taken substantially along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the line 5--5 of Fig. 4 and is illustrative of the details of the one-revolution clutch;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 6--6 of Fig. 5 and is illustrative of the details of the clutch control elements;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary view taken substantially along the line 7-7 of Fig. 4, and is illustrative of certain details of the label hopper;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 88 of Fig. 2, the same showing the suction pick-up means as it is about to remove a label from the bottom of the stack in the hopper; and

Fig. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the line 9-9 of Fig. 3..

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the reference numeral 10 denotes a label applying machine constructed in accordance with and embodying the instant invention. Said machine includes a base 12 which may be in the form of a casting that is conventionally supported as by a plurality of legs 14. A suitable source of motive power, as for example, an electric motor 16, is carried on the base. This motor supplies the energy for all of the moving parts hereinafter to be described except the suction inducing means. The motor preferably is furnished with a reduction train (not shown) built in the motor casing so that the motor output shaft 18 (Fig. 5) turns over at comparatively a slow rate of speed, c. g. 45 R. P. M.

The motor through a one revolution clutch 20 (Fig. 5) drives a cam 22 which engages a roller 24 (Fig. 4) to rock a yoke 26. The yoke is journalled on a spindle 28, the roller being held against the cam by a spring 30. The forward end of the roller carries an upper sealing jaw 32 which preferably is resiliently mounted on said end by springs 33 to permit a slight yielding movement of said jaw. In accordance with conventional practice the jaw is heated, e. g. by an internal electric heater 34. Said jaw cooperates with a stationary heated lower pressing jaw 36 fixed on the base. The spindle 28 is suitably supported as by pedestals 38 upstanding from the base.

A second cam 40, hereinafter referred to as the folder cam, is mounted on and rotatable with the cam 22. Said cam 40 engages a roller 42 (Fig. 1) carried by a folder lever 44 that is pivoted on the base by a bracket 46. The folder lever 44 bears against a roller 48 journalled on a folder bar 50 that is mounted for front-to-back translation on a pedestal 52 (Fig. 9) beneath a cap 54. The folder bar is biased rearwardly by a spring 56 which thus maintains the roller 42 against the lever 44 and the roller 42 against the folder cam.

The forward end of the folder bar is provided with a depending foot 58 to which there is secured a rearwardly extending folder plate 60 horizontally aligned with the space between the sealing jaws 32, 3 6 at the time said jaws are in idle position, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4. The direction of translation of the folder plate is indicated by the arrow A in Fig. 4.

The folder cam has a high dwell a on which the roller 42 rests when themachine is idle, thus maintaining the folder plate in front of the sealing jaws. The folder cam turns in a clockwise direction as viewed from the clutch side of the motor, i. e. as viewed in Fig. l. The dwell a terminates in a sharp drop 12 in the direction of rotation of the folder cam, this drop being but a short distance from the roller 42 when the machine is idle so that after the folder cam has turned only a few degrees, e. g. from idle position, the roller 42 will move rearwardly under the influence of spring 56 and the plate 60 will be shifted between the sealing jaws. Immediately after the sharp drop the folding cam 40 constitutes a comparatively steep rise covering somewhat more than a quadrant, for instance, about 115. This rise terminates at d and from d to a the cam is of uniform radius. It therefore will be apparent that right after as the machine is set in operation the folder bar will be thrust between the sealing jaws and immediately thereafter will start to withdraw therefrom. The contour of the rise 0 is such that before the cam has turned a full quadrant, the folder bar will have been retracted from the sealing jaws.

Although any suitable type of one-revolution clutch may be employed, particularly satisfactory results are secured with the clutch 20 shown herein. Said clutch includes a drive plate 62 secured on the motor output shaft 18. The driving face of the plate is formed with an annular series of circular indentations 64. The clutch further includes a driven plate 66 to which there is secured a collar 68 that turns around a central sleeve 70 forming part of the drive plate. The collar is formed with an external annular groove 72 whose purpose soon will be apparent. The collar further includes an offset bore 74 parallel to the motor shaft 18 and coincident with a well 76 provided in the base of the driven plate 66. Said bore and well telescopically receive a pin 7 8 which is biased toward the drive plate by a compression spring 80.

The pin is formed with a wedge-shaped slot 82 which is designed to be engaged by the wedge-shaped edge of a clutch knife 84. The knife engages the slot 82 through a segmental opening 86 in the base of the groove 72. As long as the knife engages said pin the tip of the pin is clear of the drive plate. However, should the knife be retracted through the opening 86 it will disengage the pin permitting the spring 80 to snap the pin against the drive plate and into one of the indentations 64 so that the clutch will become engaged.

If the knife after having been retracted is permitted again to press toward the clutch it will ride in the groove 72 until it reaches the opening 86. At this time the slot 82 is partially exposed. The knife will engage this exposed portion of the slot and force the pin out of the indentation 64 with which it coupled, thereby disengaging the clutch. It will be obvious that since at this time the pin has rotated 360 the clutch will permit only one, i. e. a single, revolution.

The clutch knife is mounted on and operated by a clutch knife lever 88 (Fig. 6) which is pivoted on a pin 90 carried by a bracket 92 secured to the base. An actuating rod 94 fastened to the forward end of the clutch knife lever is employed to set the clutch into operation. To aid the clutch in stopping at the end of a single revolution, a brake also maybe included, said brake comprising, for example, a second lever 96 pivoted on a pin 98 carried by the bracket 92. The forward end of the brake lever rotatably mounts a roller 98 that rides on the collar 68. Said collar includes a peripheral notch 100 in registry with the roller 98 in the idle position of the machine. A tension spring 102 urges the brake lever and roller downwardly. Thus when the clutch knife 86 withdraws the pin 78 near the end of a revolution, the brake lever will bring the clutch to a halt in the proper position of the driven p1ate..6. Another spring 104 tensioned between the clutch knife lever and the brake lever biases the clutch knife lever upwardly so that the clutch knife is urged against the pin 73 when the machine is idle and into the groove '72 at other times.

The shape of the pressing cam 22 is best indicated in Figs. 4 and 6. In the idle position of the machine the roller 24 is on a low dwell e. As the driven plate 66 turns through the first the roller 24 is raised slowly thereby depressing the upper sealing jaw 32. However, the jaw does not exert pressure on material caught between the jaws until the driven plate turns through substantially 180, i. e. at the point Consequently the folder plate will have had an opportunity to enter between said jaws and to withdraw therefrom, thereby folding material to be sealed, prior to the time heat and pressure are applied by the jaws.

The machine is started by pressing a trip plate 106 (Figs. 2 and 4) pivotally mounted on the front of the machine by pins 108. Inasmuch as said pins are near the bottom edge of the plate, the plate is biased forwardly by its own weight. Screws 110 (Fig. 1) having their shanks adapted to abut against the forward face of the base 12 define the idle position of the trip plate.

An actuating element 112 of a normally open momentary snap switch 114 rests against the back face of the trip plate in idle position so that when the trip plate is pushed toward the base the contacts of said switch will close. These contacts are series connected with a source of electric potential and a solenoid 116, whereby pushing the trip plate will energize the solenoid. The solenoid has an armature which is connected directly to the rod 94 whereby energization of said solenoid withdraws the clutch knife 84 and causes the clutch to become engaged, if the motor is running, and a cycle of operations to be started.

A second normally open momentary snap switch 118 has its actuating finger 120 engaged by an arm 122 pivoted to a bracket 124 on the switch 118. The free end of the arm mounts a roller 126 which rides on the periphery of the folder cam 40. As shown in Fig. 1 the roller 12 6 is almost at the end of the rise c when the machine is idle, the rise being of such configuration at this point of en gagement that after the cam has turned through a few degrees, e. g. 10 from idle position, the roller will have been forced radially outwardly sufficiently by the cam to depress the actuating finger 120 to an extent such as to close the contacts of the switch 118.

The switch 118 is series connected with a source of electric potential and a solenoid 128 (see Fig. 4) whose armature 130 is connected, as by a tension spring 132, to the trip plate 106. Thus shortly after the trip plate has been pressed inwardly and the clutch has been engaged, the switch 118 through the solenoid 128 will hold the trip plate in, even if manual pressure thereon is released. However, after the cam has turned through approximately 240 the end of the dwell d-a passes beneath the roller 126 permitting said roller to spring outwardlyand the switch 118 to open, thereupon, assuming that manual pressure has been removed from the trip plate, deenergization of the solenoid 123 will permit the plate to drop to an extent sufficient to release the switch 112. In turn the solenoid 116 will be deenergized allowing the clutch knife to be biased by the spring 104 into the groove 72 ready to uncouple the clutch at the end of a single revolution.

Pursuant to the present invention the machine 10 includes a suction mechanism 134 (Figs. 4 and 8) for removing the lowermost label from a stack of labels and transferring the same to a position such that it will be disposed in front of the folder plate which will shift the label to a bag being closed by the sealing jaws. As soon will be appreciated said mechanism is of particularly simple construction and employs relatively inexpensive parts.

Associated with the mechanism is an open-bottomed hopper 136 in which a stack of labels 138' is disposed."

Optionally the hopper is adjustable to take different widths;

and breadths of labels. The hopper includes a pair of side plates 139, 140 (Fig. 7) each of which is secured at its rear corner to a bushing block 142 slidable on a hopper bar 144. The blocks 142 mount set screws 146 (Fig. 4) which are designed to be tightened on the bar 144 to hold the said plates in any adjusted position. Firmly secured to the side plates, as by rivets 148, are label supports 151) having lower tips 152 that extend angularly a short distance into the hopper and thereby support the side edges of the lowermost label in the stack.

The rear edge of the lowermost label is supported by the bottom edge 154 of a narrow U-shaped strap 156 that is mounted on a rear label standard 158. The strap 156 is slotted to pass a bolt 159 that is carried by the standard 158. Thus the inclination at the bottom edge 154 and its location with respect to the length of the standard 158 can be varied at will to accommodate any given height of label. The standard 158 is secured to a rear label support bar 160 (Fig. 4) that is slidably mounted in a bearing 162 carried by a hopper frame 164 that is suitably secured to the base 12. Said bar 160 can be moved toward and away from the front of the hopper and is held in any desired position by a thumb screw 165 threadedly engaged in the bearing 162.

The forward edge of the lowermost label in the stack is supported by a plurality, e. g. three, front label support pins 166. These pins are axially adjustable in a front label support bearing 168 which is carried by a pair of brackets 170 slidable on posts 172 erected on the front face of the support 164. The brackets 170 can be adjusted along the length of the posts and held in any set position by thumb screws 1'74 thereby varying the location of the front edge of the labels in the hopper. In addition, the inclination of the pins 166 can be adjusted by rotating the bar 163 in the brackets 170, said bar being clamped in position by thumb screws 176. Finally, the extent to which the tips of the pins protrude beneath the lowermost label can be varied by adjusting the axial position of the pins in the bar 168. Thumb nuts 178 hold the pins in their adjusted position.

The tips 154 of the strap 156, the tips of the pins 166 and the tips 152 of the side label supports 150 conjointly support the lowermost label in the stack. However, the remaining labels in the stack have their edges in frictional engagement with the side plate label supports 150, the standard 158 and inturned flanges 181) (Fig. 2) at the front of the side plates 178, thus relieving to some extent pressure on the lowermost label in the stack.

It will be observed that the hopper is tilted forwardly so that the plane of the lowermost label in the stack is forwardly inclined.

The suction mechanism 134 includes a suction picker 182 of novel construction. Said picker comprises a vacuum swivel tank 184 mounted for pivotal rotation on a horizontal shaft 186 that is secured to the support 164. The forward end of the swivel tank is open at its top and has attached thereto a label adapter 188 which constitutes in effect an upward extension of the swivel tank. This particular arrangement is employed in order to enable different adapters to be used whose size will depend upon the size of the label. The adapter has an open upper end in a plane almost parallel to the plane of the lowermost label in the hopper, the difference in inclination being just sufiicient for said open end of the adapter to be coplanar with the lowermost label at such time as the swivel tank is pivoted forwardly and upwardly to bring said end of the adapter into contact with this lowermost label.

The rear lower end of the swivel tank is curved about the shaft 186 as a center and the back of the tank passes through a closely fitting opening 190 in a felt air seal 192 carried by the support 164 so that when the swivel tank is swung about the shaft 186 an effective guard against leakage is maintained. The open back of the tank faces an opening in a stationary air tank front cover 194 that is attached to the inlet of a light duty inexpensive blower 196, for example, the type of blower used in a hand vacuum cleaner or a hair drier. This type of blower maintains a slight vacuum at its inlet. The vacuum preferably is only a few inches of water, nevertheless it has been found that by employing a substantial area of engagement between the label adapter and the lowermost label in the stack, as distinguished from the tiny area heretofore used, this slight vacuum will suffice to withdraw the lowermost label past the tips of the pins 166 and past the tips 152, 154. It may be mentioned that the area of the label adapter in engagement with the label constitutes an appreciable percentage of the area of the label, for example, about one-half or more of the area of the label. The pressure side of the blower exhausts through an opening 198. Said blower is mounted on the support 164.

Heretofore it has been the practice to employ suction handling devices employing a comparatively high vacuum and hence it has been necessary to cut off the vacuum in order to disengage the handling device from the thin, flexible object engaged. However, pursuant to the present invention, by employing a comparatively slight vacuum, an object held by the handling device can be disengaged in a far simpler manner. For this purpose there is employed a stripper plate 200 in the path of travel of the open end of the label adapter. As shown here this stripper plate is parallel to the lowermost label in the stack and is provided with an opening 202 through which the label adapter moves on its way from and to the idle position illustrated in Fig. 4. The position of at least one edge of this opening is highly critical. Said edge should be so located with respect to the open end of the label adapter 138 that the juxtaposed edge of said adapter passes very close to the aforesaid edge of the opening. By way of example said edge of the adapter preferably passes as close as one-thirty-second or one-sixty-fourth of an inch from the corresponding edge of the opening. Optionally two or more edges of the opening and adapter may be thus relatively arranged. However, it will suffice if only a single edge of the adapter and corresponding edge of the opening are so disposed. As shown here-' in the upper, i. e. back edge of the label adapter, is so located that said edge of the adapter passes within one thirty-second of an inch away from the back edge 203 of the opening in the stripper plate both on the way toward and away from the lowermost label in the stack. As a result, when the adapter moves back toward idle position carrying a label across its open end the label will strike the stripper plate 200 adjacent the opening 202 and, dueto the close positioning of said edges, the label, despite its thinness and flexibility, will be stripped away from the adapter in this one region of the label. This will suflice to break the suctional grip between the suction picker,

i. e. tank, and the label just removed from the stack.

Thereafter the label will fully part from said picker. The ease with which the label is disengaged from the picker thus is a function both of the slight vacuum employed and the close spacing between the corresponding edges of the label adapter and the opening in the stripper plate. The opening 202 is smaller in either width or breadth, and preferable in width and breadth, than the label so that when a label is disengaged from the picker it will slide down the inclined plate 200.

Suitable means is included to oscillate the suction pick-' er about the shaft 186 for the purpose of engaging the label adapter with the lowermost label and thereafter dropping 'the adapter through the opening 202. Said means as illustrated herein comprises an activating brack-- et 204 mounted on the yoke 26. Pivoted to a pin 206 on the bracket is an activating arm 208 whose upper end supports a roller 210. Saidarm carries a clamping nut 212 that passes through an arcuatejslot 214 in the bracket.

204 thereby per-'rn'-i ttii1'g the position of the roller 210 to be adjusted with respect to the bracket. To expedite such adjustment the bracket further carries a screw 216 whose tip bears against the arm 208. A spring 218 tensioned between said bracket 204 and the swivel tank 184 biases the tank toward the roller 210. The bracket also mounts an adjustable rubber tipped bumper screw 220.

=I'nthe idle posit-ion of the machine the bottom of the swivel tank rests against the bumper 220 and is slightly spaced from the roller 21 0. When the clutch 20 is energi-zed and the yoke 26 initially rocks in a counterclockw ise direction as viewed in Fig. 4, both the bumper 220 and roller 210 will rock with the yoke about the spindle 28. Inasmuch as the roller is farther from the spindle than the bumper, after the clutch has turned through only a few degrees from idle position, the roller 21%) will engage the vacuum swivel tank and rock the same forwardly so as to shift the label adapter through the opening 202. At the same time the swivel tank leaves the bumper. Subsequently the yoke will rock back to its starting position and the spring 218 will cause the swivel tank to follow the roller 210 so that after removal of the lowermost label from the stack, said label will be stripped from the picker.

The freed label will slide down the inclined stripper plate 200. The portion of said plate in front of the hopper 136 is provided with a pair of side guides 222 which may, for example, be secured to the hopper side plates so that when these plates are adjusted to fit any given width of label the side guides will be correspondingly adjusted. Said side guides simply restrain a sliding label against sidewise movement. Specifically each side guide is of L-shaped configuration including a vertical web with an outwardly extending web at the top edge thereof. The outwardly extending web of each side guide serve to support slidablya shoe 224 having a thumb screw 226 to hold it in any adjusted position. The shoe carries one end of a flexible fiat spring 228 whose other end is secured to a vertical extension 230 depending from the front of the stripper plate. The springs supported by the two side guides thereby are bowed to conjointly define a vertical chute with a gradually curved entrance. Labels sliding down the stripper plate into said chute are directed thereby to a space in front of the sealing jaws. To limit downward travel of the labels abutments 232 are provided on the trip plate 106. Sidewise movement of the labels as they travel down the chute is prevented by-side plates 234 pendant from the side guides 222.

Although-iris believed that "from the foregoing description the operationof the machine is clear, a short summary thereof will be givento facilitate comprehension of the invention.

When the machine is idle a label rests on the abutmerits 232; the sealing jaws 32, 36 are spaced apart; the roller 24 is at e on the press cam 22; and the roler 42 isat a on the folder cam 40. The solenoids 116 and 128 are idleghe'nce the folder plate 60 is in front of the sealing jaws. An operator places a bag B to be sealed in front of the machine directly in front of the label resting on the abutments 252. The mouth of the bag thus is above the space between the sealing jaws. The bag is of the type which is sealed when subjected to pressure above the space between the sealing jaws. The bag is to be cold-sealed, the heaters in the sealing jaws will not be energized. Preferably the top edge of the bag should be in a'certain predetermined ositionab'ove the horizontal plane of the folding plate and for this purpose the lower edge of the side plates 234 can serve as abutments against which the top edge of the bag to be sealed is disposed.

'Once the bag has been positioned, the operator presses the trip plate 112. This immediately energizes the solen'oid 1 16 and renders the'one-revolution clutch effective. As a :result, :the folding plate 150 will almost immediately 8 thereafter be thrust into the space between the jaws, carrying with it into said space both the bag and label which are folded about the forward edge of the plate as the plate enters between the jaws. It will be observed that the pressing cam has only a slight pitch in its first quadrant. This permits the folding plate to introduce the label and bag between the jaws and to back out before the jaws press tightly against the inserted bag and label.

. As soon as the folding cam is moved a few degrees the solenoid 1-28 is energized by the switch 118 to hold the trip plate against the lower stationary sealing jaw 36 until near the end of the cycle of operations. It will be recalled that the label rests on the abutments 232. Hence the bottom edge of the label is pinched between the trip plate and the lower sealing jaw thereby holding this edge of the label in position during the time that the label and bag are folded about the forward edge of the folding plate. Near the end of the cycle the solenoid 128'is deenergiz'e'd thereby releasing the label and preparing the one-revolution clutch for uncoupling as already has been described.

The picker operates near the end of the cycle when the :node g on the pressing cam passes beneath the roller 24. At this point the folding and sealing operation issubstantial'ly complete. After said node has passed beneath the roller the sealing jaws will open enabling the sealed bag and the heat-sensitive, and now attached, label to be withdrawn. At the same time, the picker will descend so that the label held thereby will be stripped off and slide down the plate 200. During the time that it takes the label stripped from the picker to gravitate down the chute, the previously sealed bag will have been removed so that the new label will come to rest on the abutments 232 ready for the next bag sealing and label attaching operation.

It will be appreciated that although we have shown the low (slight) suction picker and cooperating stripper plate as employed in connection with the transfer of a label from a stack .to a gravity chute, such arrangement maybe employed in many other ways, as for example removing an empty bag rather than a label from a stack, manipulating a thin filled bag or even opening a bag as by applying low suction pickers to opposite sides of the bag.

Itlthus -will beseen that there is provided a device which achieves all the objects of the invention and is well adapted tome'etthe conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodimentabove set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein described, or shown in the accompanying drawings, is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Havingthus described the invention, there is claimed as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A machine for manipulating a thin flexible sheetlike paper article located in a certain predetermined position, said machine comprising a hollow conduit, means continuously producing a slight suction in said conduit, said conduitihaving at one end thereof a'large open mouth facing said article, means to move said conduit so that the mouth thereof will traverse apredetermined path of travel from said predetermined position of the article where the mouth picks up and holds the article to a position away therefrom, and a member having an edge immediately adjacent an edge of said mouth as it moves through :said path, said edge of the mouth moving past said edge of the member during the traverse of the mouth away from said predetermined position of the article a distance .at least sutficienttoistrip the article held to the mouth by said slight suction.

2. An article manipulating means as set forth in claim 1 wherein'the area of 'the mouth is at least about one-half thearea of the surface of the article.

3. An article manipulating means as setforth in claim 1wherein thespace 'between thementi'oned edge ofthe member and the p'ath-of travel-of'the mentioned edge-of the mouth does not exceed about one-thirty-second of an inch.

4. An article manipulating means as set forth in claim 1 wherein the space between the mentioned edge of the member and the path of travel of the mentioned edge of the mouth does not exceed about one-siXty-fourth of an inch.

5. An article manipulating means as set forth in claim 1 wherein the suction in said conduit is about a few inches of water.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Seator May 25, 1915 Kowal May 12, 1931 Guenther Oct. 30, 1934 Brinton Dec. 8, 1942 Sickles Sept. 19, 1944 Van Veen Mar. 25, 1952 Laxo Oct. 13, 1953 Richard Dec. 2, 1954 

